Connect Kākou

Connect Kākou – Connecting ‘all of us together’

Connect Kākou is the statewide broadband initiative, spearheaded by Governor Josh Green’s office, to ensure that communities across Hawaiʻi have access to reliable and affordable high-speed Internet (connectkakou.org). Hawaiʻi has already been awarded over $300 million in federal funding for broadband, and we are poised to secure even more federal funding in the next year.

The University of Hawaiʻi is coordinating the largest of these efforts, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which includes nearly $150 million to address the roughly 12,700 homes in Hawaii where high-speed Internet is not available.

A once in a generation investment opportunity

Hawaii’s remote location requires smart, sustainable investments in inter-island submarine fiber optic cables, carrier neutral submarine cable landing stations and terrestrial fiber networks to connect all communities to the Internet. Today, more than $300 million is available to Hawaiʻi to achieve universal access and digital literacy for all. Funding has been dedicated towards middle mile and last mile infrastructure developments with priority to unserved and underserved areas. This broadband investment initiative will leverage a number of major sources of federal funding, including the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund and the #InternetForAll programs.